Offshore Recruitment Specialist Looks to Build

An Offshore recruitment specialist is gearing up for its busiest ever year as the oil and gas industry continues to experience growth.

Seatechs posted a record turnover of £8.2million for the last financial year and is hoping to exceed that in 2013 as it supplies staff for projects across the globe.

The North East-based business was only established in 2007 but has enjoyed rapid expansion built upon its founder’s extensive experience in the offshore industry.

Seatechs, which supplies high calibre contract personnel for offshore oil and gas, telecom and renewable energy projects, has secured contracts which will see workers sent to the Redcar Windfarm in the Tees Bay, Brazil, China and the UK’s largest offshore windfarm off the coast of North Wales, as well as many other projects around the globe.

Managing Director Paul Cave said: “The growth of Seatechs has far exceeded my expectations and I’m confident that will continue into the future. That is very much down to securing new clients in a very competitive marketplace where there is such a shortage of quality, skilled personnel.

“I’m passionate about my business – I understand what an offshore manager needs to do as I have been there myself having worked for 25 years in the industry. That really helps when finding the right staff for our clients because I understand exactly the type of people they need and how we can find the right solutions for their problems. “I keep my offshore certification valid as I occasionally go offshore myself so I can work on projects if needs be. Not many of the other offshore recruitment agencies have people who have done that.”

Seatechs, whose head office is in Hartlepool, has a database of over 10,000 offshore workers, and supplies everyone from offshore mangers to deck crews; including technicians, crane operators and riggers. It works with a range of offshore engineering contractors including DeepOcean UK, Modus, MPI Offshore, Reef Subsea and Wellstream.

One of the contracts Seatechs will be supplying staff for in 2013 will be Phase Three of the Waimea Field project in the Campos Basin in Brazil.

Mr Cave added: “We proved ourselves on phase one and two by providing qualified and skilled people to do an excellent job in getting the project up and running and we aim to continue that success into phase three. “As a business, success is measured by both our ability to match a job requirement quickly and by the skills and professionalism of the personnel we provide. We pride ourselves on being able to both very well.” The success of Seatechs comes at a time when the offshore energy industry is itself enjoying sustained growth, particularly in the construction of offshore windfarms.

But Mr Cave warned that would put even more pressure on an industry that is experiencing a skills shortage of good quality, experienced personnel to service contracts. He added: “It is our job to find suitably qualified, skilled and experienced personnel who are up to the demands and rigours of these very demanding projects. “We have built up our reputation on being able to do that very well and that is reflected in our growing client base.”